Francis Benhamou Biography

Born: Montevideo, Uruguay
Occupation: Actress
Years Active: 2002–present
Spouse: Kevin Kane (m. 2017)

Francis Benhamou is an American film, television, and stage actress. She is best known for her acclaimed performance in the 2022 off-Broadway play Prayer for the French Republic, for which she won both the Lucille Lortel Award and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play.

Early Life

Benhamou was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, and raised in Miami. Her heritage includes Ashkenazi (Polish and Russian) ancestry on her mother’s side and North African Sephardi ancestry on her father’s side. She graduated from New York University before pursuing acting professionally.

Career

Benhamou began her screen career with roles in short films and made her feature debut with a minor part in the 2004 drama Imaginary Heroes. She gained early attention for co-starring alongside Zoe Lister-Jones in the 2007 independent drama Arranged.

Her subsequent film work includes:

• Neal Cassady (2007)

• Breaking Upwards (2009)

• My Last Day Without You (2011)

• Big Words (2013)

• Listen Up Philip (2014)

• Women Who Kill (2016)

• The Rainbow Experiment (2018)

On television, she has appeared in Inside Amy Schumer, Daredevil, and Life & Beth.

Stage Work

Benhamou has built an extensive off-Broadway résumé with roles in:

• Selling Kabul

• The Profane

• Invasion!

• I Call My Brothers

• Motel Cherry

Her breakthrough stage role came in Joshua Harmon’s Prayer for the French Republic. Her 2022 off-Broadway performance earned:

• Lucille Lortel Award – Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play

• Drama Desk Award – Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play

• Outer Critics Circle Award – Nomination

She reprised the role for the 2024 Broadway production.

Benhamou has since joined the cast of the Netflix comedy film Kinda Pregnant and the drama series Black Rabbit.

Filmography

Film